Pneumonia vaccine may not be effective in rheumatoid arthritis patients

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

Pneumonia vaccine may not be effective in rheumatoid arthritis patients

http://www.clinicaladvisor.com/infectious-diseases-information-center/pneumonia-vaccine-not-effective-in-rheumatoid-arthritis-patients/article/635670/

The 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23) may not be effective for preventing pneumonia in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who are at risk for infections, according to a study published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

Kiyoski Migita, from the Japanese Hospital Organization and Department of Rheumatology at Fukushima Medical University, and colleagues conducted a double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial across rheumatology departments in Japanese National Hospital Organization hospitals. The study included 900 RA patients who had been treated with biological or immunosuppressive agents.

The study participants were randomly assigned to receive PPSV23 (n=464) or placebo (n=436). The researchers examined incidences of all-cause pneumonia and pneumococcal pneumonia as the primary end point and death from pneumococcal pneumonia, all-cause pneumonia, or other causes as the secondary end point.The researchers found that 17 of the patients (3.7%) who received the vaccine and 15 of the patients (3.4%) in the placebo group developed pneumonia. The overall rate of pneumonia was 21.8 per 1,000 person-years among patients with RA. In addition, the presence of interstitial pneumonia (hazard ratio, 3.601) was associated with an increased risk of pneumonia among RA patients.

The investigators note that the patient population in the current study had a high risk of infection, and the results may not be applicable to other RA populations.

“While PPSV23 vaccination is recommended for adults ≥65 years of age, our results suggested uncertainty regarding its effectiveness for pneumonia in RA patients at high risk for infections,” the study authors wrote. “Clinicians should keep in mind the patient’s age and the presence of interstitial pneumonia because such patients are at an increased risk of developing pneumonia.”

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MJ.. LEGAL IN COLORADO… DEA PULLS DOCS’ DEA LICENSE for recommending MJ to pts ???

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

DEA pulls certificates for two Colorado doctors in medical marijuana controversy

http://www.denverpost.com/2017/02/06/dea-pulls-doctors-certificates-medical-marijuana/

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has pulled the medicine-prescribing certificates of two Colorado doctors, after those physicians had their state licenses suspended in Colorado over medical marijuana recommendations.

The doctors — Gentry Dunlop and Janet Dean — were two of five Colorado physicians whose licenses the state Medical Board suspended last summer, alleging that the doctors wrote improperly large numbers of medical marijuana recommendations authorizing high plant counts..

Last week, the DEA published a notice in the Federal Register that it had revoked Dean’s certificate of registration, which allows her to prescribe controlled substances. The move was not unexpected, and the DEA’s notice said the revocation was a consequence of the state license suspension, which blocked the doctor from practicing medicine or prescribing medication in Colorado, and not the result of new information.

Late last month, the DEA published a similar notice for Dunlop. Searches of the Federal Register for notices relating to the other suspended doctors turned up nothing.

Four of the suspended doctors — everyone but Dean — filed suit over the suspensions last year. After winning a brief reprieve, a judge in Denver allowed the suspensions to continue while the doctors’ administrative appeals progressed. The doctors appealed the judge’s order; meanwhile, their cases at the Medical Board are also still pending. Lee Rasizer, a spokesman for the state agency that houses the Medical Board, said he could not comment on the cases.

The doctors were each accused of recommending that hundreds of patients be allowed to grow or possess more than the standard six marijuana plants per patient. The doctors say their suspensions were arbitrary, and that all of their recommendations conformed to the law and policy.

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Man’s best friend – can legally use Marijuana

Posted on February 5, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

Medical marijuana for dogs

http://news4sanantonio.com/news/local/medical-marijuana-for-dogs-02-03-2017

SAN ANTONIO – Medical marijuana… for your dog? It’s real – and according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, perfectly legal.

“Kona is my 13-year-old Dutch Shepherd mix,” says Bea Adams as she pets her dog.

Adams recently noticed a change in Kona’s behavior.

“I hadn’t slept in weeks,” Adams says. “She kept me up at night, licking.”

Kona’s red, itchy skin was caused by seasonal allergies, a common ailment. Veterinarian Dr. Michelle Bammel at Westridge Pet Hospital suggested a treatment called Therabis.

“It’s just a natural antihistamine,” Dr. Bammel says.

The natural ingredient is CBD hemp oil. It’s not legal for humans, but DEA spokesperson Melvin Patterson says it’s okay for pets because pet products aren’t considered for human consumption.

“I tell people: it’s not pot. That’s the first thing out of their mouths,” Dr. Bammel says.

She says the treatment won’t get your dog high because it doesn’t contain THC.

“The joke is industrial hemp is kind of the sober cousin of marijuana,” Dr. Bammel says.

She recommends pouring the packet in your dog’s food, and the chemical ingredients will relieve itching and anxiety.

“There’s a lot of great attributes to it that you can get without having your dog get high or all the psychotropic effects of it – they don’t have those,” Dr. Bammel says.

Adams says Therabis cleared up Kona’s skin.

“I’d say about the third day on it, the itching was completely gone,” the dog owner says.

She urges dog loves concerned about the stigma of medical marijuana to consult with their veterinarians.

“I think they should keep an open mind on any natural product, especially for the dogs,” Adams says.

 

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By law, pharmacies are not required to report complaints/mis-fills

Posted on February 5, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

Channel 2 Investigates reveals pharmacies with most complaints about prescription errors

http://www.click2houston.com/news/investigates/channel-2-investigates-reveals-pharmacies-with-most-complaints-about-prescription-errors

The number of complaints filed has nothing to do with the number of mis-fills that actually occur. Unless prescribers or pts file complaints with the state Board of Pharmacy… it is just “swept under the rug”..

HOUSTON – Channel 2 Investigates is revealing the local pharmacies with the most complaints about prescription errors.

Many mistakes never get reported, and there are steps you can take to prevent a dangerous mixup.

  •   Evan Merritt is just 7 months old. In his short life, he’s been through a lot.

“He’s had a rough several months of life,” said Evan’s mother, Krisztina. “He’s kind of hit every bump in the road.”

Merritt was born with a serious kidney condition. He’s already had one surgery and a second surgery is just weeks away.

“He was placed on a maintenance antibiotic from birth,” Krisztina said.

In October, Merritt’s doctor prescribed a new antibiotic.

“We gave him that antibiotic every day for 30 days,” Krisztina said.

When it was time to refill the prescription, Krisztina claims something was off.

“The two medicines looked so different,” Krisztina said.

Merritt’s dad went back to the pharmacy to check it out.

“The pharmacy tech was shocked,” Krisztina said.

Merritt’s parents think the new prescription was right, but what he had taken every day for the previous month was wrong.

“It was terrifying,” Krisztina said. “I didn’t know if it was a medication with long-term implications on his health. I still don’t know that.”

The family contacted CVS and, “We then filed a complaint with the Texas State Board of Pharmacy Licensing,” Krisztina said.

CVS said, “We fully investigated Ms. Merritt’s complaint last fall and determined that her child’s prescription was filled correctly. A thorough review of the safety procedures during the filling of the prescription in question found that all steps were performed correctly and no error was made. We informed Ms. Merritt of our findings in November.”

The case is not closed yet. The State Pharmacy Board is still investigating.

For months, Channel 2 Investigates poured through complaints about prescription errors.

By law, pharmacies are not required to report complaints. Most of the time, complaints come voluntarily from doctors or patients.

The CVS pharmacy on the 9500 block of Broadway in Pearland had the most complaints in our area — five since 2010.

The Walgreens on the 6800 block of South Fry road in Katy received four complaints.

“We see, it’s a wide range,” said Allison Vordenbaumen Benz, R.Ph., M.S., director of professional services with the Texas State Board of Pharmacy. “All the way from something that involves a miscount. If the patient was supposed to receive 30 tablets and they only received 28. They might have the wrong directions for use on the prescription label, they might have a situation where one patient gets another patient’s prescription or it’s the wrong drug, or it’s the right drug but the wrong strength.”

While a miscount might sound insignificant, mistakes like this can be deadly.

“Fortunately, that does not happen very often,” Benz said.

Channel 2 Investigates also found three complaints filed against the CVS on the 3800 block of Old Spanish Trail. In one case, the patient was “bedridden and experiencing end-stage liver failure.”

After receiving the wrong medicine, the patient became “non-responsive” and was hospitalized for 15 days.

The pharmacy is now on a two-year probation.

Board action can range from a warning letter to losing a license.

View Document: Dispensing Error Guidelines

So how can you help prevent pharmacy mistakes?

1. Talk to your pharmacist. Ask the pharmacist to look at the drug and dosage before you leave.
2. Look at the insert that comes with the medication. Compare the shape, size, markings and color of the medicine before you take it.

“Never, ever take it for granted that the prescription you fill and pick up is exactly what you think it is,” Krisztina said.

CVS also told Channel 2 Investigates “Errors are very rare, but when they happen we investigate to determine how it occurred as part of our process of continual improvement.”

When you discover a problem, it’s important to file a complaint, which you can do here.

CVS’s complete statement:

“The health and well-being of our patients is our number one priority. Our pharmacists follow comprehensive quality assurance processes to ensure prescription safety and accuracy. Every prescription dispensed at CVS Pharmacy undergoes a multi-step review by a pharmacist prior to being dispensed to a patient.

We fully investigated Ms. Merritt’s complaint last fall and determined that her child’s prescription was filled correctly. A thorough review of the safety procedures during the filling of the prescription in question found that all steps were performed correctly and no error was made. We informed Ms. Merritt of our findings in November. In addition, we resolved the complaint concerning the 4-year old incident that occurred at our Old Spanish Trail pharmacy with the Board of Pharmacy back in 2014 and took corrective action with the pharmacy.

As a health care company that strives to help people on their path to better health, we seek out new technology and innovations to enhance safety, we engage with industry experts for independent evaluations of our systems, and we are committed to continually improving our processes to help ensure that prescriptions are dispensed safely and accurately.

Prescription errors are a very rare occurrence, but when they happen we do everything we can to take care of the patient’s needs, including contacting their prescriber to address any health concerns. In addition, we require our pharmacies to report such events to the company’s patient safety organization as part of our program to learn from these incidents and continuously improve quality and patient safety.”

Walgreen’s complete statement:

“The four complaints at the store inquired about occurred between 2008 and 2011. In two of those cases the Texas State Board of Pharmacy concluded its investigation by dismissing the complaints with no disciplinary action taken.  With all prescriptions filled in our pharmacy, our first concern is always the patient’s well-being. We take this issue very seriously and have a multi-step prescription filling process with numerous safety checks in each step to reduce the chance of human error. In the event an error occurs, we investigate what happened and work to prevent it from happening again.”

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Improving Opiate Drug Utilization Review Controls ?

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

Improving Drug Utilization Review Controls

https://www.cms.gov/Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Fact-sheets/2017-Fact-Sheet-items/2017-02-01.html

It looks like CMS (Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services) is trying to implement CDC opiate dosing guidelines on all Part D/Medicare Advantage pts. More “bureaucratic creep” on the guidelines… that – per the CDC – did not bear the weight of law.

While not stated in this information, there has been other “rumors” that CMS via their Part D providers to restrict pts to a single provider and pharmacy.  This statement really concerns me ….“sponsors are expected to reduce beneficiary overutilization of opioids and maintain access to needed medications“...  and if a particular pharmacy that a pt is locked into… has a pharmacist on staff that “is not comfortable” filling opiates… the pharmacy is out of stock for a number of reasons… how much influence or FORCE to get the Part D program and the pharmacy to “maintain access to needed medications”… how long will a pt have to suffer thru cold turkey withdrawal… while the “wheels of the bureaucracy” gets corrective action in place ?  After all the “pharmacy crawl” will not be a option.. since the pt is locked-in to a particular pharmacy… which may or may not be a singular store and not all the stores in an entire chain.

Medicare/Medicaid has a “freedom of choice of providers” by pts from day one… now they are going to take that freedom away at their opinion of a pt’s MAY be getting excessive opiates. Once again, there is seemingly no consideration for the pt’s severity/intensity of pain, CYP-450 enzyme metabolism defect of opiates. Like everything else with a “cookie cutter” type of medical care… those 5%-10%  at each end of the “bell curve”..  those “out-liers” are just SCREWED in regards to getting adequate therapy.

Maybe we should be on the lookout for increased passage of “assisted suicide” laws…to help those out-liers with access to a “final solution” to resolve their chronic pain issues ?


To address the opioid epidemic, CMS has implemented a medication safety approach by which sponsors are expected to reduce beneficiary overutilization of opioids and maintain access to needed medications. CMS also implemented the Overutilization Monitoring System (OMS) to help oversee sponsors’ compliance with this CMS overutilization guidance. Building upon these successes, CMS is proposing a number of updates to these policies intended to address drug utilization concerns within the Part D program for 2018, including:

  • Proposing revisions to the retrospective drug utilization review criteria used to identify potential opioid over utilizers through the OMS to better align with the CDC guideline on opioid prescribing, reduce false positives, and maintain a policy that is still manageable for sponsors; and
  • Proposing establishing the expectation for sponsors to, at a minimum, implement hard formulary-level safety edits based on a cumulative morphine equivalent dose (MED) approach to prospectively prevent opioid overuse at point of sale at the pharmacy.   

Process
Comments on the proposed Advance Notice and Draft Call Letter are invited from the industry, seniors, consumer advocates, and the public, and must be submitted by March 3, 2017. The final 2018 Rate Announcement and Call Letter, including the final Medicare Advantage and FFS growth percentage and final benchmarks will be published by Monday, April 3, 2017. 

Comments can be emailed to: AdvanceNotice2018@cms.hhs.gov. 

The Advance Notice and Draft Call Letter may be viewed through: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicareAdvtgSpecRateStats/ and selecting “Announcements and Documents.”

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“stewardship” a euphemism for dictator/master over others ?

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

Curbing abuse and overdoses through opioid stewardship

https://www.addictionnow.com/2017/01/30/curbing-abuse-overdoses-opioid-stewardship/

http://the-stewardship.org/metaphors.htm

“The steward, or “keeper of the hall”, was the official in a medieval household responsible for its management. Under the feudal system, it was the lord who had all of the legal authority. The steward had only a delegation of that authority, and a mandate to administer the estate. His stewardship of the estate was all-inclusive, from the broadest policies to the most trivial details. For the estate to function properly, the steward needed to hold himself accountable for all that took place in the household. He might delegate; but he would maintain an interest in all happenings, make it his business to know all of the operational details, and know when to intervene and when to concentrate on other matters.”

Last December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its website with information about antibiotic stewardship — a practice that describes a coordinated effort to reduce unnecessary prescriptions for antibiotics. The overarching goal, the CDC stated, was to provide the best standard of care and minimize the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

According to the CDC, at least 30 percent of antibiotics prescribed in an outpatient setting are unnecessary, and the amount of inappropriate antibiotic use may be close to 50 percent in outpatient settings.

Would establishing a standard for opioid stewardship reduce the rates of overprescription and, in turn, the rising rates of opioid overdoses?

Last year, the CDC urged primary care physicians to turn to physical therapy, over-the-counter medication and exercise before writing a prescription for opioids for pain management.

Dr. Tom Frieden, former CDC director, said in an interview that the risks for addiction and death related to opioid painkillers are “very well documented.”

With opioid prescriptions in the U.S. reaching all-time highs, the concept of opioid stewardship is beginning to gain traction among key stakeholders.

The problem of opioid overprescription is not unique to the United States.

Canada has become the world’s second largest opioid consumer in recent years. The Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada (ISMP) created an Opioid Stewardship Program to help key stakeholders become more aware of the risks of overprescribing opioids.

In November, the ISMP released a safety bulletin for community practitioners titled Safer Decisions Save Lives, which recommended best practices for opioid prescriptions. Among their suggestions were not prescribing potent opioids for minor pain, reserving chronic opioid therapy for patients who have chronic pain that impedes daily functions and have not responded to non-opioid treatments, treating an opioid regimen as a therapeutic trial, educating patients about the risks and potential of overdose, and recognizing opioid use disorder before writing a prescription.

Establishing a standard for opioid stewardship requires a collaborative effort from gatekeepers.

“We have to come together as health care professionals and governments to collaboratively work on the issue,” said Phil Emberley, director of professional affairs for the Canadian Pharmacists Association. “The first is we have to improve our drug information systems that pharmacists have access to, and we also have to give pharmacists the ability to adapt prescriptions in order to better manage their patients’ pain.”

Education is also an important component of creating a standard for opioid stewardship. Pennsylvania’s Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine said that there are efforts underway in her state to…

work with medical schools in establishing a set of core competencies related to opioid prescriptions and create continuing education programs for physicians and other health care professionals. The state has also written specialty- and location-specific prescribing guidelines, which have been submitted to respective medical boards for review, acceptance and affirmation.

Technology can also play a role in opioid stewardship. Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMP) allow medication dispensers such as pharmacists to input information about a patient into a statewide database, which physicians can be required to access before writing a prescription. The benefit of a PDMP is the access to information about a patient’s history with a controlled substance that a physician may not have previously had. The information available through a PDMP would give a physician a more complete profile of a patient, which can be taken into consideration before writing a prescription.

According to the CDC, PDMPs are among the most “promising state-level interventions” to improve overprescription rates of opioids.

“Opioids are essential medications in our medical toolbox, but we have to use them more carefully and more judiciously,” Levine said. “And we need to make sure that we moderate the prescriptions, the length of the prescriptions and the doses.”

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I guess that compassion and empathy is no longer part of healthcare ?

Posted on February 2, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

This showed up on Face Book page of CVS

Highly highly disappointed in Fayetteville, WV pharmacy! I normally don’t fill Rx there however Wal Marts system was down and they no idea when they would be back up. I literally was just discharged from a reliable hospital an hour away due to having lost my baby and having surgery last night. I took my pain Rx to be filled there. I am literally in my pajams with my hospital braclete still on and the pharmacist immediately profiled me and refused to refill my Rx regardless that it came from a WV state hosptial with a clear water mark and all
necessary Rx information printed on the Rx. She stated there is no pharmacy that would fill it because it wasn’t within a 20 mile radius!! There are 0 large hospitals much less reliable hosptials within 20 miles of that pharmacy. As well as my high risk obstetrics physican is located an hour away. I could understand if I have had multiple pain Rx filled there before but this was the first time and my first pain Rx being filled anywhere in 11 months. Not to mention the fact it was for a 20 count of pills with no refills. I understand there is a current drug epedicm in WV but I should not have been singled out and profiled especially in this situation, given what I have just been through and my Rx history. We asked her to please call the physicans office and or the hosptial and verify I was literally just discharged and she refused stating she wouldn’t because she didn’t have a relationship with the physican. I was unaware that pharmacists had a standing “relationship” with every physican even in their local area. She was not compassionate or caring at all despite me expressing to her what I had just been through. I assure you, CVS has lost my business and not just for Rx if that’s how they want to treat people. Thankfully Kroger was understanding and clearly stated it came directly from the hospital what issue could there possibly be. I have no control over the fact there are no obstetrics physicans or hosptial to facilate pregnant woman within a 20 mile radius of Fayeteville, WV and where I reside. This is not an appropriate way to treat a mother who just found out her baby has died and was taken into surgery within the last 24 hours.

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How things has changed since we have middlemen to “save us money” ?

Posted on February 2, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

I often post about the average prescription price was $4 – $5… before the PBM’s (prescription benefit managers) got into interfering with the prescription distribution system in  1970.

This is two prescriptions for Marilyn Monroe from 1962 with prices on them.. the average for those five BRAND NAME medications was $5.01 and four of them were LESS THAN $4.00

Generic was suppose to save everyone money…but… today we have abt a 85% generic utilization and the PBM’s control abt 90% of the prescription distribution market place in one way or another … and the average prescription price today is pushing $60.00.

If one applied the CPI (Consumer Price Index) or COLA ( Cost of Living Adjustment ) to those prices back in the pre-PBM days.. and disregarding that 85% of today’s prescriptions are generics.. would suggest that the average prescription prices would be in the mid-low $30 range…  The question has to be asked — who is getting the other $20-$30 when a prescription is filled ?  Those middlemen whose primary task was to save the system money ?

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VA Spent Billions Without Denting Doctor Hiring Problem

Posted on February 1, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

VA Spent Billions Without Denting Doctor Hiring Problem

http://www.disabledveterans.org/2017/02/01/va-spent-billions-without-denting-doctor-hiring-problem/

An NPR investigation found that despite $2.5 billion in special funding, VA added no more doctors and other clinicians than without the extra money.

Veterans Choice and Accountability Act added $16 billion to the VA budget in 2014 with the goal of fixing the wait time problem that led to a scandal where many veterans died without much-needed healthcare.

$10 billion was supposed to go to help veterans get non-VA healthcare. $2.5 billion was supposed to go to hiring more doctors, nurses and other clinicians.

NPR’s recent investigation into effects of the expensive but needed fix found the following:

  • VA has about the same number of new hires as it projected to have without the added funding;
  • The new hires were not sent to VA hospitals with the longest wait times;
  • The medical centers that received new hires were not likely to see improved wait times.

Doctor Hiring Funding Shell Game

The reason for the hiring failure is reportedly budget shuffling that occurred after the funding was distributed. This is no surprise to anyone who noticed VA reallocating other funding to pay for cures like the Hepatitis C vaccine.

RELATED: Veterans Choice To Be Fleeced For Hepatitis C Vaccine

According to NPR, VA used the funds to hire the same clinicians it would have hired without the funding. Instead of doubling down on hiring clinicians, VA then reallocated less restricted funds in the same amount to fund other projects.

David Shulkin, the soon to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs, supported his decisions as to how the funds were allocated while he led the Veterans Health Administration.

Shulkin told NPR in December:

“When you’re given a budget you face a number of new stresses on those resources. You have increases in pharmaceuticals, you have your wage increase, you have your leasing cost increases, you have IT increases. So without the Choice money, we would not have been able to have maintained the type of hiring that we were doing and expanded the type of hiring we were doing.”

Phil Carter, of the Center for New American Security, says this kind of budget strategy is common for self-interested bureaucracies in Washington:

“It makes complete sense for a self-interested bureaucracy to hire with that money first. I think VA hired staff with this money will all intention of improving access and quality. I think the VA leadership found it harder to do that.”

Carter went on to state he did not believe the shell game with funds intended to increase the number of clinicians was done with malice, “But I don’t see malice here, just the basic inefficacy of American bureaucracy.”

Do you agree?

It will be interesting to see if any Senators ask Shulkin about this apparent shell game today (February 1) during his confirmation hearing starting at 2:30 PM EST.

WATCH: David Shulkin Confirmation Hearing

For those of you hoping Shulkin will be pressed on this issues, do not hold your breath. He has wide support from Democrats, veteran organizations, and some Republicans including Senator Johnny Isakson.

Sen. Isakson reportedly promoted keeping former Secretary Bob McDonald after the 2016 election. While that seemed like an impossible request in light of the animosity between President Donald Trump and McDonald, keeping Shulkin was the next best thing to some.

Following a meeting with Shulkin, Sen. Isakson provided the following comments:

“As the undersecretary for health at the VA, Dr. Shulkin is no stranger to the work that needs to be done to bring accountability to the department. Dr. Shulkin’s overwhelming approval by the Senate in 2015 demonstrates the kind of broad, bipartisan support that I expect to see this time for his confirmation as secretary of the VA. I believe Dr. Shulkin to be a passionate veterans advocate who will work to transform the VA and ensure our veterans get the timely, quality care and support they deserve. I look forward to chairing his confirmation hearing.”

Personally, I bet Trump was unable to find a suitable substitute for McDonald who was also willing to take the job.

Each administration brings in someone new who is always taking a year just to get caught up with the cronies and scandals must less developing policies to address them.

By picking Shulkin, a person who should be familiar with the wait list scandal, the success or failure of reforms over the next few years will deservedly hang around Shulkin’s neck.

Instead of giving him a Scarlet A, we would give him a Scarlet F – – for FAIL.

While I will not hold my breath, I will remain hopeful Shulkin succeeds.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2017/01/31/512052311/va-hospitals-still-struggling-with-adding-staff-despite-billions-from-choice-act

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Scam alert: DEA Extortion

Posted on February 1, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

Scam alert: DEA Extortion

http://www.kalb.com/content/news/Scam-alert-DEA-Extortion-412483473.html

RAPIDES PARISH, La. (RPSO) – RPSO has said they have received several complaints over the last few days in reference to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) scam calls.

Currently, there is a high concentration of calls being placed in our area. More than likely, these criminals think citizens have access to tax refunds and are starting early.

These calls are from someone identifying himself as Agent Gonzales from the Spokane Field Office of the DEA. The phone number he gives to call back is actually the phone number of the Spokane Field Office, 509-353-2946.

He goes on to say that the intended victim has warrants for their arrest for international drug trafficking over the internet. This scammer even gets a “federal prosecutor” on the phone and they come to an agreement with the intended victim to “just pay the fine or we will send agents to arrest you.”

This is a scam. RPSO spoke to representatives from the DEA and they have told us this scam has been around for several years. It is called the extortion scam.

“Fortunately, no one has been a victim of this scam,” said Sheriff William Earl Hilton. “We want to remind our citizens to be vigilant and if they receive a phone call like this, just hang up, don’t call them back and block their number.”

Scammers are calling residents, mostly elderly, and identifying themselves as the IRS or Medicare. When they call, they attempt to get personal information from their victim. They attempt to scare the person with threats of law suits, warrants or arrest.

Please remember the following:

• Never give ANY personal information over the phone. Banks, credit cards and the government have your information. If they ask for verification, hang up.

• Law enforcement, local or federal, will never call you and threaten to arrest you and then give you a chance to pay a fine.

• Be very careful when purchasing pharmaceuticals online. Only purchase from a reputable company. You can call your insurance provider and they can guide you on this.

If you have been a victim of a scam, please call your local law enforcement agency. You may register for the Do Not Call list by registering with the Federal Trade Commission website at https://www.donotcall.gov/.

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